Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, Miss South Africa, has been crowned Miss Universe 2017 at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Out of 92 contestants from across the globe, Demi-Leigh has been the one chosen to be the 66th Miss Universe and crowned by Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere (Miss France 2015). Miss Colombia, Laura Gonzàles was the first runner-up and Miss Jamaica, Davina Bennett the second runner-up.

The newly crowned Miss Universe, 22, recently earned her degree in Business Management at North West University, just after making history at her high school for holding two leardership positions. According to Miss Universe website, her biggest motivation is her half-sister who has a disability and live in South Africa with her parents.

A post shared by Miss South Africa 2017 (@demileighnp) on Nov 25, 2017 at 9:25pm PST

During a pre-taped interview, Demi-Leigh talked about how her experience being held at gunpoint in her native country made her passionate about training women in self-defence and plan to create a self-defence program through the Miss Universe platform.

During the competition Q&A, Nel-Peters impressed the jury with her answer on the most important issue she thought women was facing in the workplace. Her answer was:

“In some places, women get paid 75% of what men earn for doing the same job, working the same hours — and I do not believe that this is right,” …”I think we should have equal work for equal pay for women all over the world.”